“One painful mistake I made early on was buying too fast and too many…”

I have been lucky to have known Aaron for over a year now, and I’ve always regarded him as one of the most stylish and sartorially savvy dudes I know. He’s worked at the famous store The Armoury alongside sartorial legends, and is an arbitrator of classic Neapolitan tailoring (check out his Blog). He has recently established a brand, producing exquisite Made-To-Measure Gloves (he regularly updates his Instagram with goodies at @aaronchg) and at the age of 24, has defined his style and goals early in his life. I sat down with him for a coffee and as usual, got sidetracked from the interview talking about travel and life (he’s also full of wisdom!) but finally had him divulging well kept secrets about his exciting new ventures.

At what time in your life did you realize you loved menswear?

Coming across menswear was instantly love at first sight for me. As a teenager, I read trend magazines and bought fashion items, it was at that time I developed an interest for things that are well-made. Not until I started to follow The Sartorialist, seeing a lot of #pitti and #tailoring, featuring men in perfectly tailored suits, I realised this was the style that I had been looking for all along.

What piece of clothing are you loving at the moment?
My wardrobe doesnt change much every year, as it’s based around timeless pieces of classic menswear. Having said that, I do experiement with new cloths and a variation of my style each season. The current fabric I love is a brown Spanish hunting jacket by Justo Gimeno. Its softness and slouchiness are just perfect to wear everyday.

Why start producing gloves? Where did the inspiration come from?
Indeed I have a leather gloves brand under my name, Aaron Cheung, that started with me being unable to find a pair of nice peccary gloves at an affordable price. In my mind, a pair of gloves should be hugging your hand in a way that leaves no excessive leather at the finger. That’s a pretty difficult thing to explain when people don’t pay so much attention to what they are wearing. Perhaps I’m a bit dreamy. Perhaps I shouldn’t think that everyone should look like those 1960s Esquire magazine Illustrations.

Unlined and made by hand – these Aaron Cheung Gloves are as soft as they look.

What are your plans for this year? Anything special in the works?
Since 2015 started a few short months ago, I have been focusing on the international market (thanks to Europe’s cold winter and Australia’s hot summer). I’m introducing a Ready-To-Wear collection very soon that will feature some interesting and unique leather such as Peccary and Carpincho. You can say that it’s a kind of refocus back home, as winter is approaching here in Australia. Also, a top secret menswear project is in the works too.

If there was one piece of advice you could give our readers, what would it be?
One painful mistake that I made early on was buying too fast and too many. A style Maestro once told me that for the first two to three years of your menswear crush, your style will be constantly changing. It means that you will most likely trash or donate the clothes that you have bought in the beginning. So I would say buy slower, wear every piece more often and remember that clothes are to be worn.

A Ready to wear line and a top-secret menswear project! I can’t wait to see what Aaron has in store for the large contingent of sartorial dudes who follow him. If you enjoy his style, make sure you follow his Tumblr and Instagram!

Thank you for taking the time to view my newest venture! Here you and I will be exploring the world of Melbourne Menswear: The lives of our local menswear dudes, dudettes, global inspirations that inspire us and each of our own individual twists and personalities, as we experiment and push the limits of the sartorial rules set by our forefathers. Feel free to read more about myself and this site in the “About” sections above. For daily inspiration, check the Instagram feed on the main page here, or follow @stevecalder on your phone. For now, I’m going to work on my first real post! Ciao, Steve Calder